April, 2015 – A vacation to Florida wouldn’t be complete without a trip to a tropical garden with exotic birds, and even though we weren’t exactly “on vacation” (well, maybe this was a “vacation from our vacation” ??), during our stay in Sarasota we just had to go to Jungle Gardens.

Zoo trips to kiddie parks may seem to be all alike and not really appropriate for the 50+ set if you don’t have grandkids in tow, but this place held some special treats for us. When we arrived, we were greeted by a beautiful albino peacock who looked like a princess ballerina emerging from the bushes.

A ballerina princess makes “her” entrance from the bushes

The flamingos were nearby, walking all around us, and we watched them vie with the seagulls for the free food handouts that people were grabbing from little dispensers around the grounds.

The food is for the flamingos but the seagulls don’t miss a trick.

I’d never stood next to a flamingo before, and I was quite surprised — these guys are really tall!

Seeing eye to eye.

One came over and suddenly became very interested in Mark’s shoes.

“What’s that on your shoe?”

I looked away, and when I looked again, Mark had squatted down to take some photos and this flamingo had marched right over to him and was resting his chin on Mark’s head!

“Can I climb on you?”

Then this big pink creature got really interested in something on Mark’s neck.

“You’ve got something yummy on your neck…”

Mark turned towards him, and he just kept on poking around, rubbing his beak all over Mark’s back. Crazy bird!!

What’s he looking for anyway?!

These curious flamingos kept us occupied for quite some time, but we finally moved on to check out some of the other exotics in the park. There was an iguana…

A face only a mother could love.

…and an allligator pen nearby.

Wait til these guys grow up!

This is a “garden” and we saw some lovely plants. I especially liked the red and green leaves on a bush Mark found.

Despite all these animals, it is a Garden, after all!

But it was the birds that charmed us the most. There is a big group of parrots at Jungle Gardens, and they come in all colors, from light blue to bright orange.

Pretty colors: a ring neck parakeet and a conure.

Some colors are even “made up” like this hybrid of a green wing macaw (which is red and green) and a blue and gold macaw (which is blue and yellow). The result — orange and green and blue!

What do you get when you cross red and green and blue and yellow?

But my favorite parrot of all is Frosty. He’s a greater sulphur crested cockatoo that is 79 years old. And if you look at him closely, you can’t tell that he’s a day over 3. He’s in perfect shape.

The star of the show — at 79.

There’s a very fun bird show at Jungle Gardens, and we watched two Macaws, Andy and Cracker, doing the ring toss.

Cracker and Andy do the ring toss while a buddy looks on.

Then the trainer introduced Frosty to do his tricks. We were amazed when she told us he had performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. He rode a unicycle on TV for Ed Sullivan — and he did the same trick for us! One of the macaws got a ride on a swing underneath him as he pedaled across a tightrope. How cool is that?! He’s been performing every day for decades. What a champ!

Frosty takes a buddy for a ride.

Afterwards all the kids lined up to get their photos taken with the birds of their choice on their heads and arms.

“Mom…!!!”

I was the only person over 10 standing in line to get my pic taken with a bird on my arm, but Mark nudged me and said he’d take a photo of me with Frosty. My day was made!!

Holding a 79 year old bird makes me feel like a kid!

Going to Jungle Gardens with kids or grandkids is probably the best way to do it, but if you don’t have any to take with you, it’s still a blast to go and be a kid yourself for a little while…

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For more info:

• Jungle Gardens – Official website

Plus… more posts from our RV travels in Florida…

Other posts from Sarasota:

• Spring in Sarasota FL + Bryce Canyon’s Night Skies – in Trailer Life 04/04/17
• Jungle Gardens in Sarasota Florida – It’s for the Birds! 05/06/15
• The Tube Dude – Spreading Good Cheer in Sarasota, Florida 05/03/15
• Sarasota, Florida – Life on the Waterfront 04/29/15
• The Ringling – The Art of the Circus in Sarasota, Florida 04/27/15
• Sunny Side Up – Baby Sandhill Cranes Hatch in Sarasota FL 04/01/15

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April, 2015 – We made our way from Pensacola Beach to Sarasota, Florida, with two big missions on our minds: first, to overhaul the electrical system on our RV and second, for me to zip off to New England for a family reunion. But during our stay in the pretty beach town of Sarasota we squeezed in a little sightseeing and discovered some wonderful gems.

“The Ringling” in Sarasota is an impressive estate that once belonged to the founder of Ringling Brothers’ Circus.

Who knew that Sarasota’s roots are intertwined with the circus?? Back at the turn of the twentieth century, Sarasota became home to John Ringling, the sixth of seven Ringling Brothers, five of whom founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884. Drawn to the small fishing village of Sarasota in 1911, John began using his immense circus fortune to buy up real estate. At one time he and his brother Charles owned 25% of Sarasota.

Entrance to The Ringling

John was the advance man for the circus, handling bookings and promotion, but he was a savvy invester as well. His holdings were very diverse and included things like railroads and Madison Square Garden. A lover of European art, he also invested heavily in artwork from the middle ages through the 19th century.

One ring circus.

When he died in 1936, despite having seen his fortune crumble in the face of the Great Depression, his massive ornate waterfront estate and his sumptuous art collection were both still intact, and he bequeathed the whole lot to the State of Florida.

The Ringling Museum of Art is a world class collection of European art covering 600 years.

Today, the mansion and art museum and beautifully landscaped grounds make for a fabulous tour. Upon entering the Ringling Museum of Art, we were blown away to see a room full of massive paintings by the Flemish Baroque master of the 16th and 17th centuries, Peter Paul Rubens.

From massive wall-size paintings to miniatures, every era of European art up to
the 1900’s is well represented.

Astonishingly, that is just s smattering of the immense collection of Ringling artwork which spans all of European artistic development from the middle ages through the 1800’s. What’s best is that the art museum is open to the public for free on Mondays.

The grand courtyard of The Ringling Museum of Art.

The grounds of the entire Ringling estate are beautifully kept, and the courtyard behind the Museum of Art is sensational. An enormous, pillared courtyard surrounds a formal garden that is filled with statues.

Statues grace the rooftops and the gardens.

Above the rows of arches lining the courtyard, there are legions of statues on the rooftop cornices as well.

At one end a bronze replica of Michaelangelo’s statue of David presides over the gardens, surrounded by palm trees.

John Ringling commissioned a bronze replica of Michaelangelo’s David — to stand between palm trees!

Up on top of the helmeted head of one of the statues, a little songbird sang his heart out for us, filling the air with his melodious warbles.

A little songbird warbled a beautiful melody for us.

Awestruck by the immense scale of this personal collection of art, and trying to imagine what life was like as a circus tycoon a century ago, we were delighted to find a more down-to-earth treasure hidden between the wide banyon trees of the estate. A huge mulberry bush was covered from head to toe in delicious, ripe mulberries. This bush — or tree — was so huge that we could climb inside under its thick branches. There were enough berries in there to feed an army, and we feasted on them for quite some time!!

In between the huge banyan trees we found a massive mulberry bush filled with ripe mulberries!

The huge John and Mable Ringling Mansion is now a museum as well. A very long line of people was waiting outside to get tickets to see the interior rooms of the mansion, but we contented ourselves with wandering around the grounds. The mansion is called Cà D’Zan, which is said to be a Venetian dialect for “House of John.” It is also thought to mean “House of Zany,” and since “Zany” means “clownish,” it is also fitting. John Ringling’s first role with the circus was as a clown.

These windows of the Ringling mansion look out onto the bay.

Ornate windows in the Ringling mansion.

What a place to spend the winter!

“Cà D’Zan” (“House of John”) is the name Ringling gave his unique winter bungalow.

The vast marble patio stretches on three sides of the house towards the water, and there is a huge boat dock right out front.

Colorful marble tiles stretch across the expansive patio.

There are several other museums on the Ringling estate, including a Circus Museum, and it is possible to get a discounted three day pass to see all the museums at leisure. We decided to save that in depth look at The Ringling for another visit, but we were enchanted when we met a longtime Sarasota resident who gave this unusual Sarasota circus connection a personal touch.

The Ringling “R” over a gate.

She remembered when the circus train would arrive in Sarasota for their winter break in the early 1950’s and depart again in the spring. Everyone from town would run down to wave at the performers who lived on the 100 car train during the touring season. She also remembered when a group of midgets lived in a nearby neighborhood of miniature homes. Many of the midgets had been cast as Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz in 1939.

How cool is that?!

Added later: Thanks to a heads up from reader Richard Daugherty, here is a YouTube video of child prodigy singer Jackie Evancho performing at the Ringling Museum of Art when she was 11. Check this out!!

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Our most recent posts:

More of our Latest Posts are in the top MENU above.

More about The Ringling in Sarasota:

• Ringling – John and Mable Ringling’s official website: the estate, museums, biographies and circus history
• Cà D’Zan – John and Mable Ringling’s Mansion
• The Ringling Museum of Art – Wikipedia Page
• John Ringling Bio – Wikipedia Page
• Ringling Brothers Circus – Wikipedia Page

Related posts:

• Florida’s Emerald Coast
• Sandhill Crane Chicks Hatching in Sarasota Florida
• Crazy Sightings on the Beach in Florida
• More Blog Posts from Florida

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